{{Short description|Cartoon character}} '''Hot Curl'''<ref>{{Cite web |title=San Diego History Center |url=https://collections.sandiegohistory.org/ |access-date=2026-01-27 |language=en-GB}}</ref> is a cartoon character created in 1963 by Michael Dormer<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bLyvDgAAQBAJ&q=Hot+curl&pg=PA21 | title=Michael Dormer and the Legend of Hot Curl| isbn=9781683960171| last1=Powers| first1=Michael| last2=Reynolds| first2=Eric| year=2017| publisher=Fantagraphics Books}}</ref> and Lee Teacher.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://macmedadestruction.com/la-jolla-hot-curl-windansea-icon|title = Hot Curl – la Jolla, WindanSea Shack Icon}}</ref>
In 1963, Dormer<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sdnews.com/view/full_story/20524135/article-OB-artist-Michael-Dormer--77--OB-artist-and--Renaissance-man- |title=San Diego Community News Group - OB artist Michael Dormer 77 OB artist and Renaissance man |website=www.sdnews.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924165536/http://www.sdnews.com/view/full_story/20524135/article-OB-artist-Michael-Dormer--77--OB-artist-and--Renaissance-man- |archive-date=2017-09-24}}</ref> and his friend, Lee Teacher, sculpted Hot Curl<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sandiegohistory.org/exhibits/weird/hotcurl.htm |title=San Diego Historical Society |website=www.sandiegohistory.org |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010902073636/http://www.sandiegohistory.org/exhibits/weird/hotcurl.htm |archive-date=2 September 2001 |url-status=dead}}</ref> a 400-pound concrete statue, and installed it on the rocks near the surf shack at La Jolla's famed Windansea Beach in San Diego, California.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2007/jul/19/windansea-beach-la-jolla/| title = Windansea Beach, La Jolla {{!}} San Diego Reader}}</ref> The sculpture of a mop-haired, {{convert|6|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}}, knobby-kneed surfer gazed out at the sea with a beer in his hand. The pot-bellied surf god quickly became a nationwide sensation appearing in ''SURFtoons'' comics and as a plastic model kit, selling hundreds of thousands of copies. MPC, the maker of the Hot Curl kit, expanded the franchise with kits of Curl's Gurl and skateboarder Hot Shot, Curl's brother, with his dog Hot Dog. A smaller-scale model of Hot Curl was included in some issues of MPC's 1929 Ford pickup/woodie kit. In 1964, Hot Curl became a movie star, appearing in ''Muscle Beach Party''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=2_E6M3LEGP4C&pg=PA224 ''Fantasy Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema: Interviews with 20 Actresses from Biker, Beach, and Elvis Movies'']. Tom Lisanti. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-0868-9}}. 2001</ref>
Hot Curl is similar to Kustom Kulture and Lowbrow Art about surfing and hot-rods of 1960s California, like Rick Griffin’s ''Murphy''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.myraltis.co.uk/rickgriffin/bio.htm|title=Rick Griffin Biography}}</ref> and Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's Rat Fink.
In 2007, Hot Curl featured in ''Surfer'' magazine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://surfsimply.com/surf-culture/the-legend-of-hot-curl/|title = The Legend of Hot Curl}}</ref> in a series of cartoons.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.surfer.com/features/rip-mike-dormer-1935-2012/|title = RIP Mike Dormer (1935-2012)|date = 28 September 2012}}</ref>
==External links== * [http://www.michaeldormer.com Michael Dormer] * [http://www.hotcurllives.com ''Hot Curl'' lives]
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Comics characters introduced in 1963
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